This is a historical page from the old MaxMax.com website. Please use the current site at www.MaxMax.com.

We tend not to discuss much about others that convert
cameras. We have seen enough over the years to warrant educating people
though.

Converting cameras is a precision business. You must
know what you are doing, know how to work on electronics and utilize special
techniques and equipment for a clean conversion. With the high resolutions
of today's cameras, you can't work on a camera yourself on a kitchen
table. Besides the risk of damaging your camera, it is impossible to
convert a dust free camera this way. Microscopic dust particles become
tightly bound to glass by electrostatic forces. As particles become small,
the electrostatic forces become very large. These small particles that are
visible under a microscope cannot be cleaned with swabs, wipes or wet
cleaning. These small particles will become spots, especially at
small F-stops.

We work on cameras in a Class 100 clean bench
environment. Class 100 US FED Std 209E is equivalent to a Class 5 ISO
14644-1. Class 100 environment means that maximum particles for cubic foot
is 100 > 5 microns. Once we noted on our website that we installed a
class 100 clean bench, one of our competitors claimed they had a ISO Class 100
clean bench a week later. Subsequently, they changed their claim to a
Class 5 environment. We also don't claim to have equipment we don't really
have.

We are not wedding photographers who convert cameras as a side
job. We do not sell services to teach people how to retouch
photographs. We sell and modify a wide variety of optical equipment.
We have been in business since 1997 and occupy our own 6,500 square foot building. We
ship worldwide on a daily basis and count many industrial, educational,
scientific and military users as our customers.

We are not a camera repair shop. Converting a camera is
a different business than repairing a camera. We specialize in converting
cameras. We convert the widest variety of cameras and have the widest
variety of types of conversions. We are not the most expensive nor the
least expensive. We are the best and have been in business the
longest.

We have a typical 1 to 2 day turn around. We don't sit
on cameras for a month. We don't return someone else's camera body to
you. You can send cameras in for conversion or buy a factory, brand new
modified camera from us.

We don't sell kits for conversion. We think it is
irresponsible to do so. Besides the impossibility of performing a clean
conversion without special tools, equipment and techniques, the possibility of
you damaging your camera is too great.

Here is an example of a camera that was sent to another
business on the east coast for conversion. The customer was unhappy with
the focus and dust particles. The conversion took 6 weeks. The IR
filter used inside the camera was a piece of infrared plastic.

There are a few problems with using a piece of thin, wavy
plastic over your sensor.

The plastic is not as clear as
glass. We use only glass from Germany.

The plastic is wavy. The focal
plane will change because the plastic is not flat!

The plastic will scratch easily

The plastic cannot be completely
cleaned.

The plastic thickness meant that the
customer had to shoot at F11 or higher to achieve focus. The focal
plane was completely incorrect.

Here is another example for a customer who sent his Nikon D200
camera in to a shop of the west coast. Again, the conversion took over 6
weeks. The first time, the customer received back a body with the
different serial number than the one he originally sent. The customer
asked for an 830nm conversion. Later the customer asked us to convert the
camera to 715nm because he didn't like the 830nm conversion, and he no longer
trusted the shop. When we opened the camera, we found that the shop didn't
have the correct thickness IR glass for conversion. Because the glass they
had was too thick, they sanded (!) the sensor pads with a belt sander to
move the sensor closer to the front of the camera. The sensor pads are
precision machined surfaces that mate to machined surfaces on the camera
body. The belt sander technique resulted in different pad heights and made
the sensor no longer 100% parallel. If you look closely at the sanded
pads, you can see the problem.

This is what a D200 sensor from the factory looks like.

The sensor mounts to machined surfaces visible here.

Please be careful to whom you entrust your camera. We
have seen damaged cameras. We have seen cameras missing screws, missing
internal parts like RF shields. We have heard countless stories about
cameras taking a long time for conversion. We have heard of arrogant shops
that attempt to bamboozle the customer with nonsense. Do some
research. We are not the cheapest nor the most expensive. We are the
best in quality.

Send mail to webmaster@maxmax.com with
questions or comments about this web site.
Last modified: June 18, 2015